Monday, March 28, 2011

Why did the White House take military action in Libya?
1. Depose Libya’s secular regime so it can be replaced with an Islamist-inclusive government.
2. For his 2012 reelection bid, Barack Obama needs a comback against those who claim he is a dove and a weak leader; Libya is an easy, low cost military target.
3. Libya is a test case for George Soros’ “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) doctrine which undermines US national sovereignty and puts US troops under UN command.
4. A unified Islamist Middle East will oppose and seek to destroy Israel.
5. All of the above represent a major leap toward a "New World Order."

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Western media pundits have wearied themselves getting their arms around White House policy and strategy in the Middle East and North Africa as popular uprisings in the region continue to destabilize established regimes. The Obama administration's disposition toward the upheaval that began in mid-December with the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and spread to other countries in the region, most notably Egypt and Libya, has been inconsistent at best, ranging from total silence to repeated calls for national leaders to step down. Puzzlement has given way to handwringing as "talking heads" now try to make sense of US military intervention in Libya for reasons that seem contrived.

On the surface, the Obama administration's handling of the region's social and political chaos conjures scenes from the 1978 American film comedy "Animal House." I believe there is a method to White House madness on the Middle East that needs to be seriously considered. Let's begin with a topic that few in the media are talking about—Mr. Obama's Islamist advisors.

Even before Barack Obama took office, he and his campaign team sought to curry favor with the Muslim community in the US and abroad. Since taking office, he has aggressively reached out to the Muslim World in general, and Middle East Arab states in particular, this despite our enduring friendship with Israel. According to noted expert on radical Islam Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch,

It is no secret that Mr. Obama has maintained close relationships with Islamists over the years and appointed some of them to key advisory posts in his administration. They are the “man behind the curtain” advising US policy toward the Middle East generally and the various national uprisings in particular. Dalia Mogahed, Barack Obama’s advisor to the Muslim world, is a strong supporter of the Islamist Gülen Movement which seeks restoration of the Caliphate. Would she not advise Mr. Obama to act in support of that vision?

Starting in the earliest days of his administration, he [Barack Obama] showed an intense desire to establish friendly ties with Brotherhood-linked organizations— despite the Brotherhood's stated goal of "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within."

It is obvious that the Obama administration sees little benefit in continued strong relations with Israel. Many in the left despise Israel almost as much as Islamists do. As Muslim Brotherhood interests gain greater control of governments across the Middle East, Israel will become an afterthought in the West. Having procured the favor of the Arab-Islamic world by aiding and abetting the Brotherhood’s ascent to power, the administration will have traded our strong enduring friendship with Israel for friendship with Israel’s enemies.

Furthermore, Western “community organizing” (socialist) interests have been in the Middle East for months, helping grassroots movements organize for uprising and regime change. There are clear indications that Islamist and socialist world views have found common cause in the Middle East uprisings. In each country where a popular revolt has deposed a sitting regime, the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) have been involved, fomenting uprising and swooping in to fill the void created by the chaos. Interestingly, Mr. Obama has been most vocal against secular regimes and leaders that historically limit or prohibit the Muslim Brotherhood's participation in government. This would suggest that Mr. Obama is simply fulfilling a promise to radical interests in the region who have asked him to help them depose secular regimes which would likely be an impediment to a restored Caliphate.

The Obama administration knows that a radicalized Middle East will do the Western left’s “dirty work” as far as Israel goes. They’ll wash their hands of the guilt and claim that improved relations with the Muslim World mean energy security for the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth. A Brotherhood-dominated Middle East will have America over an oil barrell and they will use that advantage to manipulate our domestic and foreign policy, dragging us faster and further down the road to Amerabia.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

According to a February 18, 2011 FOX News article, "Churches Open Doors to Muslim Worship," Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia "allows the Islamic Circle of North America to hold regular Friday prayers in their building while their new mosque is being built" and Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tennessee allowed the Memphis Islamic Center to hold Ramadan prayers at their facility in September 2009. Sounds eccumenical, right? Or, could it be that Islamists' 'eccumenicism' is a 'trojan horse' for "civilizational jihad?"

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for Christians reaching out to Muslims. I share the good news of Jesus Christ with others, including Muslims, as often as the opportunity presents itself. Nevertheless, the Church in America needs to understand the overarching ideology and agenda that motivate and energize the plans and activities of Muslim organizations and communities across the United States because the Islamic community in the U.S. may not always be as 'neighborly' as they seem now.

Unbeknownst to most American churchgoers, the Islamic Circle of North America or ICNA is a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate dedicated to an American Islamic state and the imposition of Shari’ah law in place of the United States Constitution. Every ICNA initiative, including chummy relations with local churches and synagogues, is motivated by this vision. Furthermore, that Islamists seek to establish "sovreign Islamic communities ruled by shariah (Islamic) law" in major cities across the "fruited plain" is no secret. What gets lost in the "Islam is a religion of peace" spin, however, is the fact that Islamic centers are part of a larger strategy to 'Islamize' the West (See Islam Watch article, "Project to Create Sharia-Ruled Muslim-Only Enclaves across America Takes Root in Philadelphia").

Think of an Islamic center as a Wal-Mart Supercenter for all things Muslim. Islamic centers provide an alternative to social integration which, as a general rule, is strongly discouraged by prevailing Islamic teaching. A recent example would be the Cordoba Islamic Center planned for construction at Ground Zero in New York City. Historically, Islamists have always sought to erect mosques in cities they have conquered and Cordoba, a clear show of Islamist triumphalism, is no exception.

These 'firewalled' Muslim societies within society are purposed to grow over time, eventually supplanting the host community (see this Mideast Forum article: http://www.meforum.org/2686/muslim-enclaves-usa). What is more worrisome is that as they grow, these Muslim 'enclaves' acquire political clout and vote to elect their own to political office. Once in office, Islamists seek to advance the Brotherhood agenda through legislation, nudging society ever closer to 'shariahood' (my term). Two Islamists now hold seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana and Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota who was administered the oath of office on a Qur'an.

If you are dubious about Muslim Brotherhood plans for the United States, consider the following statement exerpted from "An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal of the Group in North America" dated May 22, 1991, as approved by the organization's Shura Council in 1987:

4-Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America: The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. But, would the slackers and the Mujahedeen be equal.

The Brotherhood's subversive agenda predates the Explanatory Memorandum and a preponderance of Muslim organizations in the U.S. are in some way affiliated with the Brotherhood. At no time since the Explanatory Memorandum was distributed to at least twenty-nine major Muslim organizations in the United States have the Muslim Brotherhood renounced anything in it. By all indications since, the organization continues to actively pursue its stated objectives.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Jihadi Massacre at Domodedovo International Demands an International Response to Jihad

Walid Phares, Ph.D.

Monday’s suicide bomb attack at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport (DME) that killed 35 and wounded scores more serves as a bloody reminder of the global Jihadist pandemic, with its various mutations and assorted agendas, that self-replicates in local, regional and international causes, turning them into unwitting hosts for its lethal advance in societies the world over. The blast that ripped through the baggage claim areas of Moscow's busiest airport will likely be attributed to Wahabi Jihadist networks out of the North Caucasus region who claim solidarity with Chechnyan and Dagestani secessionists.

For those of us who have observed and analyzed Jihadi terrorism for decades this horrible attack leaves us with two immediate thoughts:

Copycats

The jihadists behind the Moscow terror attack will boast of their “exploits” to incite other jihadists around the globe to follow their example and emulate their method. There is a crucial lesson to be learned from the Moscow airport massacre for security and law enforcement officials who are receptive to its teaching—Jihadi terrorists will innovate and adapt their methods to circumvent multiple layers of airport security and strike “targets of opportunity” as they did at Domodedovo International Airport in the international arrival terminal. Russian and other foreign travelers killed in the attack paid a terminal price for because airport security strategy and methods did not adapt in time to prevent this latest mutation of Jihadi terror. It is imperative that other nations of the world learn from the Domodedovo event, especially those nations targeted by Jihadi networks like al Qaeda. What happened at Domodedovo could happen at any airport in the free world.

Ideological Incitement

From the Nord-Ost siege (Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis) of 2002 to the Beslan School siege and massacre in 2004 to this latest terror attack at Russia’s busiest airport, a common theme emerges; the impetus behind all of these terror attacks is an overarching ideology known as Wahabi Jihadism or “combat Salafism.” In each of these cases, the perpetrators came from the northern Caucuses region. Connections between the Caucuses Jihadists and Central Asian and Afghani Jihadi networks are becoming increasingly active as a perusal of the Kafqaz and other Jihadi sites on the Web confirms. The rush to judgement by some Western observers that assigns blame for these attacks on Russian policies in Chechnya is ill advised. First, many Chechens do not support warfare against the Russians. Second, Chechens who happen to support a local guerilla do not necessarily favor strikes against civilian targets deep inside Russia. In point of fact, those who are inciting and carrying out these attacks subscribe to Jihadi ideology like that of al Qaeda, the Taliban or Shabab al Jihad in Somalia. All of these groups, that target civilians, cite Islamic dogma as the basis for their actions, not the ethnic and religious communities from which they come.

The Moscow airport terror attack should prompt the international community, with the United States and Russia in the lead, to escalate this issue as the top priority of world counter-terrorism strategy and launch a global campaign against Jihadi ideologies. Ideology aside, this campaign must also identify and punish the funding sources for radicalization, regardless the effects on political economies. The Jihadists have the world's economies and innocent civilians in their crosshairs. Regardless of national differences, the International community must unite against the Jihadists.

Dr Walid Phares is Fox News Terrorism Expert and a Professor of Global Strategies. he advises the anti-Terrorism Caucus in the US House of Representatives.

About Me

"The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." "My tongue is the pen of a ready writer."

"The children of Issachar ... were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."

"And Joses ... by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is, being interpreted, The son of encouragement."